Portal:Current events/2013 May 6

May 6, 2013 (Monday)

Armed conflicts and attacks

Afghanistan–Pakistan skirmishes:
- An Afghan border police guard is killed and two Pakistani troops are injured in border violence. (BBC)
Syrian civil war:
- Rebels shoot down a Syrian Military helicopter in Deir ez-Zor Governorate killing all eight soldiers on board. (AP via Anchorage Daily News)
- A UN official on a Swiss television station says the UN has "concrete" suspicions that the rebels have used Sarin gas. The UN later released a statement in response stressing that it has not reached any official conclusions, and has yet to have acquired proof that either side used chemical weapons. (The New York Times),(BBC)
Iraqi insurgency (post-U.S. withdrawal):
- At least 10 people are killed and 26 others injured in attacks across Iraq. (Xinhua)
13 people die in clashes between Islamist protesters and Bangladesh Police officers in the Bangladesh capital of Dhaka and the outlying suburb of Kanchpur. (AP via Fox News)
War in North-West Pakistan:
- 15 people are killed and another 50 are injured when a bomb detonates at a political rally of the Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam in Kurram Valley, Federally Administered Tribal Areas, Pakistan. (Xinhua)

Business and economy

Wal-Mart passes ExxonMobil as the largest company by revenue on the annual Fortune 500 list. (Economic Times)
Bank of America agrees to pay US$1.6 billion to insurer MBIA to settle a long-running dispute between MBIA and two companies Bank of America had since acquired. (The New York Times)

Health and environment

A new Swedish study published in the journal Pediatrics finds that children whose parents suck on their pacifiers have fewer allergies later in life. (The New York Times)

Law and crime

Germany arrests a 93-year-old, alleged former Auschwitz guard, Hans Lipschis, on charges of murder. (AFP via Google News), (BBC)
According to the FBI, a terror attack is disrupted when US authorities raid a mobile home in Montevideo, Minnesota, United States. (AP via News24)
U.S. Air Force Lieutenant Colonel Jeff Krusinski, who was in charge of the Sexual Assault Prevention and Response Office, is arrested on charges of sexual assault. (ABC News)
A stolen dinosaur skeleton is returned to Mongolia. (Los Angeles Times)
Three women missing for more than a decade are found alive in the U.S. city of Cleveland, Ohio, while a 52-year-old man, Ariel Castro, is taken into custody. (The Guardian), (News Limited)
American singer Lauryn Hill is sentenced to prison for three months after being convicted of tax evasion. (Huffington Post)

Politics and elections

Seven-time Prime Minister of Italy Giulio Andreotti dies in Rome at the age of 94 years. (BBC)
The US Senate passes a bill allowing states to tax internet sales. (Nordonia Hills News-Leader)